Found a US 909c Poland reverse printing error

[Slingshot]

Found this US 909c Poland Overrun Country issue of 1943 reverse printing error in a batch of stamps I was going through. This is the 2nd reverse printing error I've found in the past month. I had a Yugoslavia reverse printing in early May which went for $6 on eBay. So, I'll find out what this one will do Saturday night when this auction ends. I've found several dozen of these reverse printing errors over the years and know there must be more out there. Catalogue value runs around $20-$125 on the 909c depending on condition, and this particular one is a VF-Superb because of the near perfect perforations, paper condition, coloring, light cancel, and centering, but of course real world value and catalog values often are at odds with each other.
If you have any amount of the Overrun countries issue I would advise double checking them, on Greece the reverse printing is the norm, and the regular printing is the rare one. The first picture is of the reverse printing by itself, then in the second picture the reverse #909c is on the left, and a normal #909 Poland is on the right. Can you spot the difference? On the reverse they printed the black ink portion before printing the color portion of the stamp, so the black ink lines seem to be blotted out a bit when the color was put over it, the Yugoslavia reverse is the easiest one of the entire printing to spot, as the black is entirely blotted out on those.. Happy Stamping!!

 

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[Mackaydon]

Slingshot,
Thanks for the education.
I think I'll get a better catalog that lists such errors; my "Official Blackbook"(2013) makes no reference to this error.
Don...

 

[Slingshot]

Yeah, knowledge is power in any collecting field. The Scott's Specialized US Catalogue is considered the Bible of US stamp collecting, but they are expensive. I was using a 2000 edition up until 2013 when I shelled out about $75 for a new edition. Though expensive, the new varieties listed by that newer catalog that I have found mixed in with common stamps has paid for that purchase many times over. Specialists have long known of many varieties that are not recognized by the catalogue, and until they become listed they have little value, The 909c was not listed in my 2000 edition, and I didn't know it existed, though specialists collectors of that issue have been collecting them for many years.
If you look closely at the second stamp in the picture of the common 909, you will see an extra feather coming out of the head of the Phoenix, that is an unrecognized variety of this stamp, and has a rarity factor of 1 in 400, but has little value because it is not officially listed in Scott's, or recognized so to say. I had put it with the 909c to generate more interest in my auction, but I think they both will slip by without much interest, sad to say. Not as many specialist as there used to be.
It is the same with most definitive stamps, 15 years ago specialists that collect the FLAG OVER PORCH 32c 1990's definitive issue recognized over 50 varieties, but the Scott's only recognized a little over 30. Now specialists recognize over 100 varieties of that issue, but Scott's still only recognizes a few more than they did 15 years ago.
It is a way to sell new catalogues to collectors, as they slowly bleed in the varieties each year, and keep us collectors buying their catalogue to see which varieties have become officially "recognized" and more valuable.